Just a Sidekick
by May Vulcan
Summary: Olette Maureen Anderson was never one to hide from the limelight. In fact, limelight was exactly what she craved. She based her dreams around the idea of center stage and the spotlight with which it came. However, no matter how much she desired the glory and the praise, she was stuck in the shadows of her best friend, Christian Hayner Richardson.


**DISCLAIMER:** Though I find it completely unnecessary, I feel somewhat obligated to state that the Kingdom Hearts franchise does not belong to me. Also, as you read the story, keep in mind that this is simply a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either products of their rightful owner's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance of actual events or locales or person, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

* * *

**JUST A SIDEKICK**

_a May Vulcan Story_

_It's not fair_

_It's not fair_

_I didn't know_

_I wasn't there_

Olette Maureen Anderson was never one to hide from the limelight. In fact, limelight was exactly what she craved. She based her dreams around the idea of center stage and the spotlight with which it came. However, no matter how much she desired the glory and the praise, she was stuck in the shadows of her best friend, Christian Hayner Richardson.

Christian Hayner Richardson was always in the limelight. He didn't have dreams and aspirations of his own. If anything, the last place he wanted to be (or at least that's what he claimed) was on the stage with a spotlight shining on him. Nonetheless, regardless of how he felt about the constant attention and never-ending praise, he was always the star of the show.

He's a one-man show, Olette would think to herself occasionally. He was the Batman to her Robin; he didn't need someone trailing behind him like a lost little puppy the way she did. Hayner needed someone who could keep up to speed with him. Someone who could challenge him and his talents. Someone who wouldn't tie him down from accomplishing all the things he could. Someone who wasn't Olette.

They were best friends. Or at least they were supposed to be – what Olette wanted to be. _Equals_. So why did Olette feel so little compared to Hayner?

After all, it made sense right? Hayner may have not been the _best _friend anyone could have ever had, but Olette had to admit, he was _always_ there when she absolutely needed him. And where was she when he needed her? _Nowhere to be found_. In fact, Hayner never needed her… so there really was no chance to ever prove herself equal.

"Hello, you've reached Olette Maureen Anderson. How may I be of service?" Olette chimed her rehearsed greeting on the phone line.

The voice on the other line, in a panicked frenzy, stumbled over her hurried words. "Olette, it's Aelita. I need you to come over to my house. Like _right now_! Please, hurry!"

Olette sat there in a shocked silence. When did Aelita ever call for her help? When had Aelita Mae Richardson, sister of her supposed best friend, contact Olette for anything? Olette sat there in confusion, trying to piece together the potential answers as to why Aelita had called her.

And then it clicked.

Something was wrong. Something was wrong with Hayner.

_It's not fair_

_It's not fair_

_Seeing you_

_Lying there_

After zooming through the not-so-busy streets of Twilight Town, Olette parked her car in front of the Richardson household. Not caring to lock her car doors, the brunette rushed out of he car and rang the doorbell urgently. She took full note of the fact that Mr. and Mrs. Richardson's cars were not parked in the driveway, which only meant that they weren't home; however, Olette didn't care. All she cared about was getting into the house and finding out what was wrong with Hayner.

In seconds, the door was flung open. Aelita pulled the girl standing at the door into the house. Hurriedly, the platinum blonde led her brother's best friend to her bedroom. Aelita looked at the girl seven years younger than her; she knew how awkward it must have been for Olette, considering the last time they really spoke to each other was on Hayner's eighteenth birthday.

Olette let Aelita push her through the hallway of the Richardson house. She did not understand why Aelita had passed Hayner's room; if the problem were about Hayner, wouldn't he be in the living room?

Not a word was spoken between them as Olette entered the lavender painted room. She smiled to herself, remembering the time she and Hayner had snuck into Aelita's room to just talk heart-to-heart. The pictures that scattered the walls of the bedroom reminded Olette of her own bedroom. Then, Olette's eyes fell on the bottom bunk of Aelita's bunk bed.

There lay Hayner, writhing in what seemed to be severe pain. He bit his lips together tightly, trying his best not to scream out. Hayner's usually spiky hair was a mess from his violent trashing around. His piano fingers were entangled at the ends of his shirt, which he was tugging at ferociously. His eyes were shut tight as he continued to wriggle about the mattress in great discomfort.

Shocked, Olette would not believe that he was not the first thing she noticed upon entering the room. She raced over to her best friend, not knowing what happening to him. The brunette looked over to Aelita, hoping to know what was going on. When Aelita shrugged, Olette knelt down to get to Hayner's level; she didn't know what to do, but she knew she had to try.

"Hayner," Olette whispered in alarm, "it's Olette. What's wrong? What happened?"

The greened-eyed seventeen year old watched frightened as her eighteen year old best friend responded to her with an earsplitting shriek. Wincing, Olette stepped back for a moment and turned to Aelita. Though she wanted to focus all her attention in trying to figure out what was wrong with Hayner, Olette first needed to understand how it got to that point in time.

"What happened exactly?" Olette quickly asked.

Aelita looked at the girl, who was a couple inches taller that she was. She then looked at her younger brother, who was in what she believed to be the worst pain in his life. "I don't know what's happening _right not_," the twenty-four year old stated, turning her attention to the suit and tie hanging from the top bunk, "but before all of this, he was just about ready to go out to dinner with Mr. Boehm and all the other ASB people, like Patrice and Serena."

Rolling her eyes at the thought of Patrice Richards, the ASB Secretary, and Serena Milligan, the kid sister of Olette's most recent ex-boyfriend, Olette scoffed. Of course, Hayner would go to dinner with Mr. Boehm and their favorite "hard working" students, Olette reminded herself. And of course, he would do so without inviting or even informing his own vice president.

"I originally didn't want to call you," Aelita admitted solemnly, "considering all the things my brother's been telling me, but he collapsed in the kitchen, he kept screaming out your name... so I figured you would know how to handle this."

Olette shook her head, before thanking Aelita. The ASB Vice President again rushed to her best friend's side; in the back of her mind, she had a feeling she knew what Hayner was experiencing, but she did not want to admit that he could fall victim to such a thing. She sat beside him as he continued to toss and turn uncomfortably.

The one time Olette could prove herself to be a good best friend… she didn't know what to do. After all, she was nothing more than just the sidekick to Hayner the Hero.

_I wasn't strong enough_

_To save you from the evil stuff_

_I wasn't smart like you_

_To do what you would do_

Thinking to herself as Aelita stood beside her anxiously, Olette managed to get Hayner in her arms. Though he was still squirming around in pain, the brunette cradled her best friend as they rocked back and forth. She looked at Hayner, who was now screaming into her cotton sweater.

Olette then turned to face Aelita. The two of them had managed to piece together the obvious: Hayner was in pain; Mr. and Mrs. Richardson could not find out about this little episode – not anytime soon, at least; and they had to do all they could to make it stop.

"Olette!" Hayner managed to cry out during a fit of screams.

"Yes, Hayner?" Olette asked immediately. "What is it?"

Even through his pain, Hayner smiled at the sound of Olette's voice, still surprised that she even came to his rescue. He pushed his right hand against his lower stomach as he cried into her sweater once more. The eighteen year old pressed his lips together tightly, trying to muffle another scream.

Olette looked at Hayner, holding him closer to her. In that moment, she realized that his breathing was very irregular. The brunette also took note of the fact that Hayner was shivering and sweating.

"Make. It. STOP!" Hayner let out a sharp, savage-like scream.

Olette flinched at the sound of her best friend's cries; she had never seen him in so much pain. In fact, she had never recalled seeing Hayner in any physical pain. She looked at him helplessly as he began sobbing onto her shoulder. With her arms still draped around her ex boyfriend, Olette called to Aelita.

"Aelita," Olette said,trying to figure out how to fix the situation. "I think I know what's going on with Hayner, but I'm going to need you to trust me."

"Olette, if I didn't trust you," Aelita finally admitted, "I wouldn't have called. What do you need me to do?"

"I left a square, blue pad in your brother's room the last time I was here. I need you to find it ASAP. If you can't find it within the next five minutes, run to the kitchen and heat me up a water bottle. And hurry, please!"

The platinum blonde did as her brother's best friend commanded. Aelita was willing to do anything to get her only brother to stop crying and to stop his pain.

Once Aelita was out of the room, Olette began to stroke Hayner's hair gently. Though he was still muffling his screams of pain, Olette was determined to fix the problem. She shook her head in disbelief at the thought of what Hayner may be suffering; she deemed the thought impossible. After all, _she _was one to suffer from the anxiety attacks, not Hayner! Besides, what could possibly be so distressing that it caused an attack as violent as Olette's?

"Hayner," Olette tried, "I don't know if you can hear me, but I need you to try breathing normally. With the way you're breathing right now, you're not getting enough oxygen. Please, bay, I need you to do that… for me."

Olette felt Hayner shake his head as he whined and cried onto her. She knew how hard it was to try to breathe properly during times like this. She knew for a fact that it felt like death was bear during times like this, but she also knew that she couldn't diagnose Hayner's attack as a "panic attack" without knowing the full details of the situation or without a doctor's say in the matter.

In moments, Aelita had burst through the door with Olette's heating pad. The twenty-four year old plugged in the device, handing it to Olette quickly.

Olette felt Hayner's body become heavier on her. She sighed, knowing he had passed out in her arms. She now knew what it was like to be Hayner when she had a panic attack. The brunette readjusted herself so that Hayner was resting his head on her shoulder; she wanted to make sure that they were both somewhat comfortable.

"Olette, what's happening?" Aelita wondered, sitting at the edge of her bed. "What's wrong with my little brother?"

Olete placed the heating pad on her best friend's stomach, hoping it would somewhat help. She then draped the nearest blanket over the sleeping boy, placing a pillow behind his back.

"I want to say that he just experienced an anxiety attack," Olette stated, "but I can't officially say that considering I'm not a doctor. I can rightfully assume that he just had a really bad stomachache, but again… I don't know anything about this."

"Either way, Olette, I want to thank you," Aelita said softly. "Even if you and my brother aren't in the best of terms right now, given your current situation, I'm glad you came…"

"It's what _best _friends are for…"

_I know I'm not a leading man_

_I know I'm not a star_

_But I know what makes me special_

_Is what I feel in my heart_

Aelita nodded before standing up from her bed and heading to the door. She them looked toward Olette with a gentle smile. "Is there anything you want me to make for you while you're here?"

Smiling back at her best friend's sister, Olette shook her head. "I'm good," she replied, looking at her sleeping best friend. "But do you think you could make him some soup? I think he may need something to eat when he wakes up and soup will go down the easiest."

"Hot soup?" Aelita wondered. "He was sweating, Olette. Are you sure _hot _soup works for him?"

Olette nodded. "I'm almost positive. He was shivering before he passed out; if this experience was anything like mine used to be, I know he's feeling pretty cold on the inside."

"Anything else I can get?" Aelita wondered.

Thinking for a moment, Olette replied, "Yeah, actually. A lukewarm washcloth might be able to cool him down from the outside while the soup warms him up."

Aelita leaned against the doorframe of her bedroom, staring at her brother passed out in the arms of his ex. Sighing, the platinum blonde smiled to herself. "I know that my brother may not say this enough – or ever, even – and I know that things between you two right now are really strained," she began, watching as Olette stroked Hayner's matted hair out of his drained face, "but I'm really glad that he's lucky to have someone as amazing as you in his life."

The brunette continued to run her fingers through Hayner's tangled hair. She sighed to herself as she watched his chest rise and fall with his breathing, which had become consistent once again. Pressing the back of her hand against his forehead, Olette noticed that his temperature has gone down just a little. She shut her eyes, thinking to herself.

A few minutes after Aelita had left the room, Olette took note that the boy in her arms was stirring. She carefully readjusted the temperature on the heating pad before fluffing the pillow behind them. The green-eyed girl, pulling her arms away from her best friend stood up from the bed slowly. As Hayner's eyes fluttered open, adjusting to the brightness of the room, Olette smiled to herself.

"Good morning, sunshine!" Olette chimed. "The earth says hello!"

Hayner groaned as he attempted to sit up, however, he doubled over in pain just as quickly.

"I don't suggest moving around too much, my dear," Olette said in her motherly tone. "You'll be sore for a couple of minutes if not hours."

There was an awkward silence between the once-dynamic duo before Olette decided to make her way toward the door. Just because Hayner had been suffereing from his stomach pains did not take away from the fact that they weren't at the best of terms because of… every little thing. Turning to the door, the brunette sighed; if Hayner really wanted her in his life, he would make just as much of an effort as she did with him and as he did with everyone else.

"Wait!" Hayner called out just as Olette reached the door.

Olette turned to face the boy around once again. "What's up?"

"You came," Hayner stated, surprised. "You didn't have to… but you did. Why?"

"You know you'd do the same for me," Olette said, trying not to make eye contact with the boy. She knew very well that he wouldn't have done the same; she knew very well that he hadn't multiple times in the past.

Hayner hung his head in shame. "You know that's a lie…"

"I know," Olette said, walking back toe Aelita's bed and sitting at the edge, facing Hayner. "But hey… you know what?"

Hayner stared blankly at Olette.

"What?" the blond-haired boy asked.

_I'm just a sidekick_

_Yeah, I'm just a sidekick_

_But I love_

_Being at your side_

Olette sighed to herself. "We may not always be okay with each other, but I'd do just about anything to make sure you're all right – it's what sidekicks do."

Just a sidekick, the girl thought while looking at her ASB President. That was all she knew she could ever be in the eyes of everyone else, including herself. Sighing to herself, Olette knew very well that the glory, the praise and the appreciation was probably not meant for her.

Hayner looked at Olette with a confused state. "But you're not the sidekick in my eyes, though," he said, "you're the hero."


End file.
